Voter turnout improves marginally in Uttar Pradesh (Lead)

Lucknow, April 23 (IANS) About 14.5 percent of the 25 million-odd Uttar Pradesh voters eligible to vote Thursday exercised their franchise in 17 Lok Sabha constituencies till noon, election officials said here. Polling stations opened at 7 a.m. However, a slow turnout was reported in the early hours from almost all the constituencies due to the scorching heat.

According to poll officials, 14.5 percent voter turnout was reported till noon with Allahabad registering the highest at 17 percent.

Uttar Pradesh’s most high profile parliamentary constituency Amethi, the pocket borough of Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, registered a poor voter turnout in the initial hours of polling.

Amethi recorded the lowest turnout till 9 a.m. with only 5.5 percent, an election official said. However, it improved slightly by noon and touched 11.2 percent.

“The highest turnout was reported from Gonda and Kaiserganj, where polling had crossed 11 percent at 9 a.m. The average polling rate was 7.2 percent in the morning,” the official said.

Considering the rise in temperature during the day, the officials were expecting a higher turnout in the morning.

Officials said sporadic incidents of malfunctioning of Electronic Voting Machines were reported from some constituencies, including Amethi and Domariyaganj.